Vehicles
Under construction Jetbikes Besides using portals, the best way to travel long distances in Felarya is either by being as stealthy as possibly or as fast as possible. The Felaryan Jetbike combines both. Their design varies quite a lot, depending on the native predators of the area, the pilot and the available materials to build it. Jetbikes either come in single person or pilot and passenger seats. The latter is more common, as private ownership is often unavailable for anyone but the richest people, not to mention that the amount of skill required to pilot one is considerable. In order to carry a passenger or cargo, Jetbikes have a rearcar, like a sidecar on a motorcycle, but at the back. This is usually fitted with a padded seat for their passengers, but can be removed in order to carry a small amount of cargo, usually precious items or treasures. The basic design consists of anything from 2 to 4 individual jet engines, arranged in a variety of ways. Most jetbikes are VTOL ( Vertical Take Off and Landing ) and thrust vectoring capable, as the extra manoeuvrability often means life or death in Felarya. The few remaining non-VTOL/thrust vectoring jetbikes are built solely for speed, designed to be able to outrun a harpy, they can be even more expensive than a VTOL jetbike due to the high wear on the components. Stealth is achieved through use of a scalar visual distortion field and magical sound dampers, usually in the form of a rune-engraved metal ring around the jet nozzles. This in turn is powered by a magic-matrix crystal usually located in the inner workings of the jetbike where it powers much smaller, secondary dampers. The dampers cannot be maintained at high speeds, as the sound produced causes the dampers to draw far too much magic from the crystal, which often result in the crystal destabilizing and shattering violently. Because of this, many jetbikes have a turbocharger that runs off the crystal. When they are discovered and stealth is no longer required, the pilot will cancel the dampers (the distortion field is scalable, hence it’s name so it is not always deactivated) and divert all power to getting as much out of the engines as possible. Of course, this “turbo charger” is also a big drain on the crystal, and prolonged or frequent use can result in severe or fatal damage to it. The scalar visual distortion field is a simple spell that makes the jetbike hard to see at distance. It's not a cloaking device; it merely renders the bike an indistinct dot at range. This might not seem like much but it provides a lot for the relatively small amount of power it consumes. The speed and manoeuvrability of the Felaryan Jetbikes isn’t their only defense and pilots are often equipped with a variety of smoke grenades, flares and other quick countermeasures to aid in throwing off pursuing fairies, harpies and anything else that takes too much of an interest. Members of the Felaryan Jetbike Pilot Guild are equipped with one AID each mission. Felaryan Jetbike Pilot Guild Formed by pilots to provide a standard for their trade and to increase their bargaining power with rich clients, the guild provides also maintenance, armament and client seeking services to its members. Pilots of sufficient skill are accepted usually without question into the guild, however a test is required if they cannot provide enough proof of their skills. Tests usually involve riding a course and performing difficult manoeuvres, although no predators are involved. Loss of a jetbike over a trivial thing such as an entry test is deemed very wasteful and worse, unskillful. One of the advantages pilots get for joining the guild is a standardized defensive loadout, including the famous AID grenades. In such a dangerous job, it's a huge asset. *Credits to Anime-Junkie for the Jetbike idea.